Rethinking the addictions concept: steps towards the dual pathology

Abstract

Since the 1980s, several epidemiological studies have demonstrated the existence of significant statistical associations showing the high prevalence of co-occurrence between Substance Use Disorders (SUD) and Other Psychiatric Disorders (OPD), which ranges between 20% and 50% in general population and between 40% and 80% in clinical population. Likewise, epidemiological studies suggest that in more than 80% of cases OPD started before the onset of SUD, so that people with OPD are up to 3 times more likely to develop SUD later.